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June 30, 2015 • Children's Trust News

using father’s day to #turndadstereotypesupsidedown

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This Father’s Day, the Children’s Trust called on friends and supporters to shake up the all-too-common stereotypes of fathers as incompetent, emotionally unavailable knuckleheads by sharing images of themselves challenging negative dad stereotypes on social media with the hashtag #TurnDadStereotypesUpsideDown.

What resulted was a powerful demonstration of all the many ways in which dads today can best be described by adjectives like caring, loving, nurturing, responsible, playful, comforting, competent, soothing, huggable, tender, pampering, steadfast, doting, nourishing, flexible, sensitive, creative, protective, devoted, supportive, affectionate, involved and proud.

Over 50 photos were submitted showing dads or their kids literally upside down or actively doing something to flip the script on fatherhood in the 21st century. We tried to express the collective beauty of the many diverse responses as a photo mosaic made up of all the submissions.

The original photo of Chris DuPrau nuzzling with his son was posted in the Facebook event for the campaign, and it clearly captured the tender and nurturing side of fatherhood that has been getting short shrift in the conventional narrative. You can see all of the submissions on the event timeline, and you can see the full, zoomable mosaic on the Mosaically website.

Through the Fatherhood Initiative, the Children’s Trust engages dads to help them build and strengthen positive parenting attitudes and behaviors. We were happy to see such a positive pushback against the negative stereotypes that continue to pollute our society’s notions of what being a father is all about. We invite you to add your voice to the growing chorus working to #TurnDadStereotypesUpsideDown, and help make 2015 the year of the nurturing dad!